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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Narcissistic Confessions

It's long overdue for me to explain to whomever might be reading this
why I created and continue to maintain a website about myself (which includes this blog, wherein I also blog about myself). I admit
I've gotten a little carried away with the whole thing - there's a lot of
information here. I'm on a fence about being ashamed/embarrassed to the
point of deleting it all, and being really proud of it. Although it could
easily be interpreted as a sad thing for someone to do, I have to confess that
working on it makes me happy. Here are a few insights into my motivation
to do such a thing:

Write what you know: "They" say write what you know, and
everyone's favorite subject is themselves, there's no denying it. Get
someone talking about themselves in conversation and they'll like you even when
you yourself hardly speak. I'm a writer for my day job anyway, and often
enjoy different types of creative writing in my free time. Having my own
website is an extension of what I'd be doing anyway. Perhaps bits and
pieces of what I've written in these pages will become part of a more formal
book someday, you never know.

Fake it 'till you make it: As a songwriter, I'm like most others
in that I'd like my songs to reach a wider audience. When you love
writing songs but you're not a great performer, you call yourself a songwriter
- meaning you think it would be cool if a famous artist recorded one of your
songs. When you haven't had a famous artist record one of your songs yet,
"they" consider you "aspiring" or "emerging" or
some similar word. And when you're aspiring, they advise you to present
yourself like a pro until you become a pro. This site is a step in that
direction.

Vocational practice: As a career professional writer, you've got
to keep up with changes in technology. All forms of writing are online
and electronic now, and gone are the days when a writer could turn in a
hand-written, pen-on-paper work and a publishing company did the rest. I
started by writing instructional manuals meant for printing, and now what I
write is rarely printed by its readers - people not only buy written works
online, but they also read them online now. As a way to improve my skills
with various online writing technologies, I started creating websites with
"practice" subject matter, and happened to use my interest in
songwriting as a topic. This evolved into the scottcooley.com you're
visiting today. It has also led me to indeed become skilled with
webmastering to the point where at my current employer I regularly maintain
websites, as well as moonlighting as a website designer/maintainer for personal
clients in my free time for extra money.

Online presence trend: In recent years, our social world has
changed drastically due to advances in technology. Everyone has a
computer, and everyone is online now. The internet isn't just for
celebrities and people who are trying to sell something. Instead of the
limitations of free social network profiles where you write about yourself, why
not have the freedom of your own domain and website so you can really go to
town? If like most people I'm going to post some online information about
myself on Facebook anyway, I can now experiment with layout, formatting,
presentation, graphic art, multimedia, etc. in addition to writing and paint a
more interesting, detailed and complete picture of myself this way.

The mad scientist thing: Although I suspect most people I know
would describe me as reasonably outgoing and social, there is a side to me that
is a loner. Writers are by nature lone wolves to a certain extent, and
I've always gravitated to individual as opposed to team sports.
Similarly, songwriting is a solitary pursuit, and the introverted side of me
craves quiet time alone for this. Rather than being a performer as a solo
act or as a member of a band, which I've enjoyed in the past, my involvement in
music has evolved to the point where I lean toward recording in my home studio
lab as yet another way to express myself - mad scientist-style. Tinkering
with my website is an extension of this same kind of madness.